--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you would like to hear from YOU. Why not send us your articles and your reviews and we will be more than happy to add them to our pages for other fans to read around the world. Share your thoughts and opinions about the latest Elvis releases that you have added to your collection and help your fellow fans to know what is hot and what is not the best things to spend their money on. You can do this by sending us an article/review (subject title "Article") to eer-desk@ntlworld.com

The following is an interesting article by Chet Flippo, the Editorial Director for CMT.com. It sure is an MUST to read to shed a little more light into the how and what was involved in how "Elvis: What Happened" came to light, what money changed hands for the stories and that it was Rupert Murdoch who saw to it that Steve Dunleavy, the slimy sensationalist tabloid writer would be the one to work with Red, Sonny West and Dave Hebler.

In case you’ve been hiding out in a hole deep in the Sahara Desert, there is a very messy and convoluted media scandal underway here in the United Kingdom involving Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch. What it essentially boils down to is this: Murdoch's News of the World tabloid -- which has been the best-selling tabloid paper in the English-speaking world -- has hired detectives over the years to hack into the cell phones of thousands of politicians, celebrities and other prominent people.

That practise turned deadly toxic with the newspaper turning to hacking into the cell phones of ordinary citizens, including a missing 13-year-old girl (who was murdered), the families of London train bombings terrorism victims and families of slain soldiers in Iraq. The scandal has angered so many people here in the UK, they have forced Murdoch to shut down the News of the World.

In the 1973 Murdoch bought out two American newspapers, the Texas based San Antonio News and the San Antonio Express. He then combined both newspapers and launched the San Antonio Express-News, but early on, he instructed the News staff to turn the paper into a "screamer." And the paper soon did so. With a vengeance. The staff began introducing Murdoch's patented tabloid formula of sensationalism, sex, celebrities, crime and corruption. The facts be damned

Murdoch also ran his newspaper with an institutionalised anti-rock policy which may well have been what led to the book that may have helped to kill Elvis Presley?

The 1977 book Elvis: What Happened? was a very messy tell-all expose, based entirely on interviews with three of Elvis' formerly trusted aides and bodyguards who had recently been fired by Elvis' father Vernon as part of a cost-cutting operation. The bodyguards, the cousins Red and Sonny West and Dave Hebler, felt betrayed after being summarily dismissed after years of what they regarded as devotion to the King.

They seemed to seek revenge. And they got it in Elvis: What Happened?

"We lost money," Murdoch told Esquire magazine in 2008 in talking about the New York Post's finances. "Until one of our reporters wrote the 'true story' of Elvis Presley. We said we would serialise it, and it came out the day Presley died, completely by coincidence."

The instalments had actually been planned to run later, but Elvis' sudden death prompted Murdoch to pounce. The New York Post began printing instalments from the book the day that Elvis died. The first headline read, "New Book Tells of His Decline in Drug Nightmare."

Objectively speaking, the book was a true MURDOCH HATCHET JOB. It laid out all of Elvis' dirty laundry that you didn't want -- or need -- to know. And it was all hear-say from the three bodyguards. No other sources are cited in the book at all.

There are no voices to answer for Elvis. The book's copyright is by Murdoch's News Corporation. It became a best-seller, and the profits went to Murdoch's News Corporation, not to the author. It was written by Steve Dunleavy, a hard-drinking, controversial Australian reporter greatly favored by Murdoch.

I did some lengthy interviews with Dunleavy (who has since died) for a story in Rolling Stone about the life and practices of a sensationalist tabloid journalist. Dunleavy proved to be the perfect example of a Rupert Murdoch mad-dog journalist, for whom anything goes to get a story. He told me that when he was once competing with his father -- also an Australian reporter -- on a crime story, Steve slashed his father's tires to prevent him from getting to the crime scene.

When I met with Steve, he was then working for Murdoch's grimy New York Post, as well as writing a column for Murdoch's Star supermarket tabloid, and all of our interviews seemed to somehow end up taking place in Manhattan bars. I learnt a lot of tabloid journalism tips from Steve. For example: "You know, Chet, when we write about an actress's 'charms,' that's shorthand for 'tits.'" He was serious.

Dunleavy told me the assignment to do the Elvis book came from the very top. When I pressed him about his financial arrangements about the book, Dunleavy would only say, "Mr. Murdoch took care of me very well for the book."

Steve would not say if he or the Post had paid for interviews with the three bodyguards for the project. Given the Murdoch empire's lengthy history of buying interviews and paying out bribes, I suspect that was very likely the case. There were no cell phones back then, so they couldn't have been hacked. But Dunleavy didn't really need phone hacking. He got his dirt straight from Elvis' former guys.

For the first time, the book revealed the full extent of Elvis' complete and total dependence on a long list of prescription drugs. And it was not a pretty story. It was a virtual pharmacopia of drugs and other sundry and tawdry personal details about Elvis.

Close Elvis associates have said the book had a devastating effect on Presley. He read portions of an advance copy of it, became alternately depressed and enraged and was agitated to the point of talking about luring Red and Sonny to Graceland and then killing them. The book was published in early August of 1977. Elvis died on the floor of his bathroom in Graceland two weeks later, on Aug. 16, 1977.

Elvis Presley...A tragic and devastating "Tell All" end to an amazing career!Rupert Murdoch...Anything for a buck!

**********************************************************************************************************************************************IN RESPONSE:Ida Ritter (September 23, 2011)After reading all the comments on the Elvis What Happened subject I as an Elvis fan would like to state my opinion as I did before, I do not think that you help a friend by exposing all his faults, you try to do that in other ways, and when I saw the video when those guys were interviewed by the media I heard very well when West said that he was so angry because of being fire and the way he talked indicated that he did it because of all that.

I give them the benefit of being human and I could very well understand that it was not easy living with Elvis, but they also chose to be there with him instead of walking out, so as Marty says and I respect him a lot for always coming to the rescue when somebody is talking and making false statements about Elvis, I am entitled to my own opinion and I do not have any respect for them for writing to the world such a nasty book, but I do believe that this subject should go to rest and let the man and them be in peace.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kenny Littlemark (July 22, 2011)From what I can make out from reading several books, Elvis had to do away with Red, Sonny and Dave because they were out of control. They were beating fans up left right and centre but it wasn’t those getting sued by everyone, it was Elvis who was picking up the bill.Something I really don’t get with Marty is that he is all against Sony releasing the Elvis outtakes and private recordings by saying they were never meant to be released and Elvis would not want them released, and yet has no problem with anyone releasing a book revealing the intimate, private life of Elvis. You can't object to one and not the other surly?**********************************************************************************************************************************************Marty Lacker (July 21, 2011)Tom, And so you know they did it out of vindictiveness and not to try to make Elvis see what he was doing to himself? And where do you get your brilliant insight from seeing that you don't know either one of them?

They did not know at the time that Elvis told his father what to pay them and tell them. I found out shortly after from someone who was in the room when Elvis told his father what to do and it was someone who has never lied to me. So they thought that came from Elvis not Vernon,that Vernon was just the messenger.

However, all that is moot now, it's 34 years later, let it go along with your uninformed theories. They did not seek slimy Murdoch out,their agent made the deal and they did not know at the time what kind of lowlife scumbag Murdoch or Dunleavy were.

That is what I previously meant by give it a rest. My comments were only directed toward Chet Flippo wanting to dredge this whole mess up all these years later and use Elvis.

Be happy and live a long life and leave this alone,it really doesn't concern you or the rest of the fans. I just don't like the fact that Elvis is being bought into this crap because Murdoch and his minions are finally being exposed for what they are.**********************************************************************************************************************************************Tom Morrison (July 20, 2011)Eyes opened is right. After 30 odd years we finally find out more behind how the book came about and it was all down to Murdoch who wanted to hire out some people who would throw dirt at Elvis in order to create tabloid trash that would sell and make a good serialisation in his newspapers around the world.To say the release of "Elvis What Happened" had nothing to do with Elvis Presley's death is as informed as someone saying it did! Marty does not know it didn't and I do not know it did! But anyone must logically conclude that the release was not the best thing for a man in his condition and could only put a huge amount of extra stress into his life.

But to say one of the reasons they wrote the book was because of the way Vernon fired them really does sound vindictive. Elvis told Vernon to tell the guys he will hire them back later and to give them $5,000 each. But because Vernon ignored Elvis and only gave them 2 week pay and said nothing about them coming back, they decided to get even by seeking out Murdoch, the slime King (even back then) to write a book. Sounds like they should have written one about Vernon seeing as it was him who did the dirty on them and not Elvis.**********************************************************************************************************************************************Marty Lacker (July 20, 2011)Maral, I appreciate the fact that you want to protect Elvis' memory but your answer is typical of someone who never spent a moment with Elvis and you don't know his real personality away from the stage. You also don't have a clue about Red & Sonny and their feelings toward Elvis then,before then and now. Just as you didn't/don't know any of the rest of us. You could say the same about us if we commented on what kind of person you really are because we don't know you.

The best analogy I can give in regards to what Red & Sonny tried to do is the old adage about hitting a stubborn mule upside his head with a brick to get his attention. Look at the book as that brick and you may understand what I'm saying.

That so-called dirty laundry is what eventually killed Elvis and they were trying to prevent that from happening,unfortunately they were too late.You and others have a right to your opinion albeit an uninformed one. I state mine from first hand knowledge and 20 years experience being close to Elvis and the guys. I'm not trying to argue with anyone,I'm just trying to give you the benefit of that knowledge and experience.**********************************************************************************************************************************************Maral Galvani (July 19, 2011)I have never EVER believed the intention of the book was to help Elvis. You don't help a friend by putting his dirty laundry in a book that can be read by everyone. I'm sorry Mr Lacker but that is just not logical. I'm not saying it was the main reason for Elvis' death. Fans are not blind, we know Elvis had a problem. But to say that Red and Sony did this out love is a load of you know what. That just book added more stress into Elvis' life. And those guys knew exactly what they were doing while writing the book.**********************************************************************************************************************************************Marty Lacker (July 18, 2011)I understand where Jeannie Taylor and Leon Gold are coming from and trust me when I say I did not lose sight of the bigger picture but what I was commenting on was Chet Flippo's opening up the can of worms about Red * Sonny and their book. As evidence of what I'm saying, here is the rest of my comments that appeared in EIN....But it is finally coming to light what kind of greedy, low life scumbag Rupert Murdoch is as the English authorities have discovered his long underhanded and what I consider criminal dealings in furthering his power and influence through his media entities. He saw an opportunity to try to tear down a historical cultural icon in Elvis with no regard to what it did to Elvis, his family or hundreds of millions of fans or for that fact Red & Sonny, however he did see that the disgusting things he allowed Dunleavy to write would bring him millions in sales of the Star and Elvis What happened.

So he assigned someone as nasty as he is to write the book with Red, Sonny and Dave. As I said the guys wrote the book mainly to try to get Elvis to see what he was doing to himself and they did that out of love for him. The other reason they did it is because of the way Vernon Presley let them go. Elvis had told his father to give them each $5,000 as severance pay and let them know they'd be hired back later. Instead Mr. Presley gave them two weeks pay and said nothing about hiring them back. This after Red had been close to Elvis for over 20 years and Sonny for 18 years as his protectors. They had families who now were left with no income to live on.

They were inexperienced about book publishing and certainly about what kind of people Murdoch and Dunleavy were and so they went for the deal that provided them with the most money,as most authors do, so that their families could be taken care of while they searched for employment. Because of their publishing inexperience their deal with Murdoch and Dunleavy did not allow them to change the way Dunleavy wrote the book and they did not know what he wrote until it was finished. And as usual the fans always zero in on the negative things people write about Elvis even if they are a small part of the book. They wrote many good things in EWH but the fans choose to gloss over them.

Murdoch and Dunleavy are the villains in Elvis What Happened and the world is finally finding out what kind of human beings they really are.Murdoch operates the same way here in the US with his Fox News TV Channel, he has the rotten Republicans in his pocket so he allows the Channel to make up lies about everyone else in the other party in US Politics. The British authorities are arresting his executives but what they need to do is put him in prison for the rest of his life along with his minions who did his dirty work. His tentacles, they have revealed, reaches all the way into Scotland Yard and England's government. Put him in prison for what he did to people like Elvis and all the other lives of people he besmirched, all for money.

I have always whole heartedly believed that Red and Sonny tried to help Elvis see what he was doing to himself and they did it because they loved him and still do.

People need to get real and get a life, Marty**********************************************************************************************************************************************Jeannie Taylor (July 18, 2011)I think this time Marty needs to forget the story of Rupert Murdock. I think people are working to stop him and it has nothing to do with any of the MM.It's Murdock who hated Elvis and his music and he's the one that has all the Tabloid News.Not only the Newspapers but TV and other sources as well. It involves much more than Elvis. It's his news {?} Outlets that hacked into peoples lives; government as well as private lives.

Appreciate his defence of the Wests, but this goes much higher and has hurt a lot of innocent people. He wouldn't like it if someone had hacked into his personal life I know. Neither do the British, the victims of 9/11 or the people of the U.S. Hope he and others help to stop Mr Murdock and others from spreading rumors as news .

Thanks to everyone and anyone that helps to stop the Tabloid news. Whether in print or TV. Jeannie**********************************************************************************************************************************************Leon Goad (July 18, 2011)Well, we've all heard this story and that story about why the book "Elvis: What Happened" was written, BUT, one thing that seems to have been left out of the story for the last 34 years is that Rupert Murdoch pushed for the book and payed out BIG MONEY to get the tales and the dirty laundry. I presumed it was the Wests and Hebler or the publisher who got Dunleavy involved but turns out it was Murdoch who poured out the cash to get the stories.

The book was a true MURDOCH HATCHET JOB. It laid out all of Elvis' dirty laundry that you didn't want -- or need -- to know.

It was all hear-say from the three bodyguards. No other sources are cited in the book at all

There are no voices to answer for Elvis.

The book's copyright is by Murdoch's News Corporation. It became a best-seller, and the profits went to Murdoch's News Corporation

Steve would not say if he or the Post had paid for interviews with the three bodyguards for the project. Given the Murdoch empire's lengthy history ofbuying interviews and paying out bribes, I suspect that was very likely the case.

This all opens my eyes a hell of a lot more. Ok, the book is not the worst book written, but it was the first of the worst and I always thought the book was the idea of the bodyguards to "try and help Elvis"? But if that was the case then surely the copyright to the book would be owned by the 3 guys and not a dirt digging, money bribing, tall tale buying, tabloid King like Rupert Murdoch.

Marty, we all know (well most) know that Elvis was not a God and was a human being with all the faults as the next man, but the fact is this book was thought up and paid for by Rupert Murdoch to do nothing more than spread dirt and cause a scandal. I have a life but with this new information its only right we take a look at things again. It has certainly made me see thing and people in a new light now I know the Wests and Hebler were bought by Murdoch for the private memories of Elvis.*********************************************************************************************************************************************Marty Lacker (July 16, 2011)I take exception to the Flippo article and his remark that Elvis What Happened helped kill Elvis. That's a crock of shit that was started by a couple of other members of the MM who were sycophants and ass kissers and always trying to make others look bad in Elvis' eyes for their own benefit. If anyone helped cause Elvis' demise it was Colonel Parker who ran him into the ground with those damn tours going to the same cities every month and to Vegas just to satisfy his gambling habit and debts.

In addition Elvis partly was at fault for two reasons, he tolerated and didn't confront Parker and didn't get rid of him when he should have years before and his over dependency on his prescribed drugs. He took too many, too often as an escape from the boredom of his life that Parker had created.

Some people, mainly the uninformed media and uninformed fans are quick to pin Elvis' death on the guys around him and neither ever spent one damn minute with Elvis or us. They think it makes them sound good when they mouth off as if they're in the know and protective of Elvis.

Truth is they do more harm then good. They need to get real and understand that Elvis was not G-d, he was a human being just like the rest of us and had human faults and frailties as we all do. The media,especially the tabloids sensationalize stories to make more money.

I have always whole heartedly believed that Red and Sonny tried to help Elvis see what he was doing to himself and they did it because they loved him and still do......People need to get real and get a life.**********************************************************************************************************************************************You can respond to this matter by sending in an email to us at eer-desk@ntlworld.com

UPDATE - July 16th 2011, Marty Lacker sends in his reaction to this matter. You can read this directly below the article.